Doggy Dayz in Oceanside
About fifteen years ago we joined the ranks of dog owners and were instantly ushered into a kind of parallel universe governed by its own social rules, most of which we weren’t even aware of until the passing of our beloved Martin blasted us back into the non-dog universe. There’s a scene in the movie Dog Park that illustrates this very well. A dog owner brings along a human friend while walking his pet in the park. They meet another dog owner and the human friend reaches out to shake the hand of the other dog owner and ask their name. Oh dear, bad faux pas (or is that ‘paw’?). The other dog owner doesn’t know what to do – just stammers, looks at their feet, and moves quickly away.
Even though we’re not in the dog world these days – not that our daughters don’t try their best to return us there – we love dogs (and cats and pets in general) and we’re not going to miss the Oceanside Doggy Dayz Festival coming up May 15 – 17. Martin would have loved to have been in the parade, where he could have vied for Most Senior dog (if they had a Weirdest Teeth category he’d have walked away with that) or one of the many other prizes. You have to register to be in the parade and compete, and you can do that online.
The weekend is really broken in two parts – a pet fair on Saturday at the Parksville Community Centre with displays just for the humans (groomers, breeders, retailers, etc.) and lots of useful seminars as well. And then on Sunday, the dogs can bring their owners to Qualicum Beach for a doggy breakfast, a fashion show, the parade at 1:30pm and much more!
Oh, it’s actually ok to talk to dog owners, but you should ask the name of their pet first 
